22/08/2024
In Memory of Sotiris Aspris 1939-2014- 10th Anniversary
Sotiris Aspris, the founder of our company, was born in the village of Akanthou, in Northern Cyprus in 1939. He was the third child in a family of four children. His father owned a popular coffee shop in the village and from a young age he would help in his family business.
He later trained as a Tailor and being hugely ambitious and wanting to leave the confines of Cyprus, for a better and more exciting life, he moved to the UK in 1962. He took numerous jobs, some as a Tailor, but being an entrepreneur and an ambitious man, he wasn’t content working for other people, so he wanted to start his own business
Sotiris, married Christalla, and they were determined to make a success of their lives in the UK and start up their own business, and through hard work and persistence, the couple opened their first shop in 1965 - The Falkland Stores, on Falkland Road in Kentish Town. A convenience store at the centre of the community on Falkland Road.
The couple worked long hours and lived above the shop. The shop became well known not just in the local community, but also amongst Greek Cypriots in the wider community, as the couple started to import products from their homeland, Cyprus, for their fellow compatriots and they also started a party and wedding service to supply Cypriot weddings.
The shop was always very much a community shop, bringing people together, so it was a great sadness to everyone when their shop was closed in 2001.
A second shop, an off-licence, was also opened at 47 Turnpike Lane, in 1982, and later a Cash and Carry on Harmood Street, and our current warehouse on Ferdinand Street, both in Camden.
The business became known for supplying the drinks for businesses in the Camden and Kentish Town areas and beyond. It started to do more imports from Cyprus, Greece and France and supplying drinks businesses across the UK.
Sotiris was a stalwart, well-known and respected in the Greek-Cypriot and local community and involved in many projects throughout his life, always contributing to the local and Greek-Cypriot community with his generous spirit.
Although he retired from the business in 2006 as a Director, he was always involved, looking for new products, advising staff and speaking to customers in our Turnpike Lane Store until his untimely death on the 22nd August 2014, just over a year after the sudden passing of his wife, Christalla.
A larger than life, charismatic figure, who was ambitious, hugely driven and with a generous spirit, his passing devastated his family, friends and community.
Today marks the 10th Anniversary of Sotiris’s passing, so we pay tribute to a uniquely driven, and generous man, who was determined to succeed and contribute to society.
Rest in peace Sotiris- Forever in our thoughts and hearts.